Problems dealing with multiple consecutive days of nonstop rain

[blackmagic]

To the OP: Could you expand a bit on your gear list that your using, since you might want to revise your profile where you're just using links.[/url]

Embrace the suck!

I started with a BB XLC, HG DCF tarp with doors, continuous ridgeline with 2x tac toggles, 10F Diamondback TQ, 10F Wooki UQ, and 2QZQ UQP. Hammock suspension is Dutch Ti cinch buckles and Spider/Poly straps.

At some point (after the Smokies was the plan) I was going to switch to a lighter set-up with a Darien in 1.3 MTN XL, 30F Enigma TQ, 30F Revolt UQ. The tarp and hammock suspension would stay the same. I was considering evaluating the UQP at that point.

Rain definitely isn't going to kick me off the trail. Hiking in the rain is actually quite fun to me. Anyway, in a month or so when the temperatures warmed up, these issues with wet gear become mostly non-issues. It is just the combination of relentless rain with cold overnight temperatures that becomes dangerous.

[blackmagic]

Packing up wet stuff is not a problem as long as quilts retain loft. Hydrophobic down works surprisingly well — much better than I ever thought it would when it first came out — but IMHO it still doesn't beat synthetics in prolonged, super-saturated conditions. I was in a similar situation a few years back at Seneca Creek WV where it rained pretty much non-stop for 4 days. I was using an EE quilt with Apex and was getting constantly misted by raindrops knocking off condensation, and yet the quilt remained warm. I am convinced that if I had been using a down quilt — hydrophobic or otherwise — that packing up and hightailing it back to the car would have been the only option.

My quilts all have DWR-treated down in them. I guess the AT will really put that to the test.

I always carry sleep clothes when backpacking in the northeast, and as long as those stay dry (which they should, as long as I'm careful with them), I should be able to stay dry.

I think I made the right choice starting with 10F quilts -- as overnight temps even at elevation were at least 20F warmer than that, even if the quilts are partially compromised with moisture, they'll still have enough loft to stay warm enough.

[mcpuddleglum]

I think the only option here on a thru is to take a break and dry out inside (hostel, hotel, etc.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cougarmeat]

Multiple rain days with no opportunity to get thing dry - nightmarish! As cmoulder suggested, if this type of adventure environment will be common, consider synthetics. I bought synthetic UQ’s for a GE and the RR. I might have only used them once and moved on to down. But every time I think about selling the synthetics, I hesitate. Once, during my ground days, I was kayak camping on Vargas Island. We woke up to a wet mist that hung in the air and got EVERYTHING that had an exterior surface wet. Fortunately, our synthetic sleeping bags and tent floor were still dry. We didn’t have to move so could wait it out and later that afternoon or the next day the sun came out. If it had lasted 3 days it wouldn’t have been fun.

I’m sure I have gear that would keep me comfortable in a wet situation - IF I KNEW that’s what I’d be walking into ahead of time. Barring specific gear for sustained rain days, I don’t think there was any “magic” to be done. In an igloo, you can light a candle lantern and just the little heat from that can take some moisture out of the interior space. But I’ve never had any kind of flame in a tent or hammock. I have considered, in the winter, hanging a candle lantern (a small “tea” candle completely enclosed in a metal/glass holder) from the ridge line inside a hammock sock. But it would only burn for a couple of hours and, for me, wasn’t worth the risk.

It is not the rain that removes the joy. Rain is fine … well, not “fine” but workable. It hits the tarp, rolls off, and everything under the tarp stays dry. It's that all encompassing mist that’s evil. And the weather reports seldom provide a mist potential in their predictions.

Once, on the Alaska Pipeline in Valdez, it rained for seven days straight. That meant it was raining all day, all night, and when you woke up the next day, it was still raining - the same rain from the day before. Got a little muddy crawling under the equipment to grease zits and change filters. Finally, the sun came out. The crew and I completely understood how people could worship the sun. It was if we adapted to living in a world where rain was a constant reality. When the sun came out, when this yellow thing appeared in the sky, when water vapor started to rise from the ground and skin felt some kind of warmth, it was a …. miracle!

[poor_jalopy]

I haven't had to deal with this yet, however I am a thinker.

Were you alone? I pretty much never hike without my son with me, so I tend to think of problems being doubled, but with a partner to help me deal with them.

If my son and I were stuck trying to put away a wet tarp in the rain, (with little to no wind, if it was windy I would stand, shake my fist at God, and curse my lot in life), I would loose all lines except ridgeline so that tarp is hanging with dry side covered to itself, and wet side completely on the outside. I would them make my son hold one end of the ridgeline while I held the other end. Keeping the ridgeline taut, we would roll the tarp up (in the air, imagine a retractable projector screen going up into it's case) so that wet only touches wet, and dry only touches dry. If I had snake skins (I do) I would use them to keep the wet tarp rolled. Otherwise, I would tie the tarp closed with the guy lines from the ground.

A: I hope this helps. B: I hope this will actually work.

[cmoulder]

I haven't had to deal with this yet, however I am a thinker.

Were you alone? I pretty much never hike without my son with me, so I tend to think of problems being doubled, but with a partner to help me deal with them.

If my son and I were stuck trying to put away a wet tarp in the rain, (with little to no wind, if it was windy I would stand, shake my fist at God, and curse my lot in life), I would loose all lines except ridgeline so that tarp is hanging with dry side covered to itself, and wet side completely on the outside. I would them make my son hold one end of the ridgeline while I held the other end. Keeping the ridgeline taut, we would roll the tarp up (in the air, imagine a retractable projector screen going up into it's case) so that wet only touches wet, and dry only touches dry. If I had snake skins (I do) I would use them to keep the wet tarp rolled. Otherwise, I would tie the tarp closed with the guy lines from the ground.

A: I hope this helps. B: I hope this will actually work.

Definitely get out and practice this.

There's nothing particularly wrong with what you describe but when you add the stress of actually doing it in a cold rain the dynamic changes. Reality can throw in little wrinkles here and there that are hard to anticipate.

[MikekiM]

There's nothing particularly wrong with what you describe but when you add the stress of actually doing it in a cold rain the dynamic changes. Reality can throw in little wrinkles here and there that are hard to anticipate.

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^

One can't get good at backpacking in the rain.. if one never backpacks in the rain..

[blackmagic]

If my son and I were stuck trying to put away a wet tarp in the rain, (with little to no wind, if it was windy I would stand, shake my fist at God, and curse my lot in life), I would loose all lines except ridgeline so that tarp is hanging with dry side covered to itself, and wet side completely on the outside. I would them make my son hold one end of the ridgeline while I held the other end. Keeping the ridgeline taut, we would roll the tarp up (in the air, imagine a retractable projector screen going up into it's case) so that wet only touches wet, and dry only touches dry. If I had snake skins (I do) I would use them to keep the wet tarp rolled. Otherwise, I would tie the tarp closed with the guy lines from the ground.

That is essentially what I do by myself: roll the tarp up and slide a snakeskin over it. In principle, the wet outside doesn't touch the dry inside. In practice, to paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcom, water finds a way. The inside gets wet from water sloshing around and doing its thing.

[m00ch]

I wonder if bringing a bivy on a wet thru hike isn't the worst of ideas. You may have to go to ground at some point and am sure it would prove its worth there but could you have also used it in the hammock when you were getting rained on from under the tarp? That certainly does not address the UQ and definitely is not going to be the easiest to get into in a hammock. Maybe it has merit when you know it will be a monsoon.

[Dave556]

Also Class of 2020 here. We shared very similar experiences with the relentless rain, dew, fog, puddles, mud and sleeping in clouds. It was my first experience with that duration of wet weather during a backpack trip. Learned a lot...

My tarp was wet and stayed wet, even after shaking it out day after day. My quilts (down) were damp, a bit heavier, but still had loft and kept me warm. While I certainly thought about the quilts being damp, I don't recall thinking the moisture was risky to my sleep system...so long as the quilts lofted. One of my camp chores is to air-out the quilts as soon as camp is established (usually 3-4 pm); no rain, I used my bear bag line as a ridge line to hang my quilts, even when overcast; if raining, hang the quilts over the hammock ridge line. For me, taking a nero was best way to dry out and reset myself in those weather conditions. I nero'd at Neel Gap and planned to nero at D i c k' s Creek Gap (primarily to dry out again) but ultimately decided to bail due to the stupid virus.

After trying an UQP, I was dissatisfied for the same reasons you offered. Maybe UQP's work for shorter trips, but not sold for days of wet weather or through hike. Hence the reason I'm going with a DCF tarp that offers more/wider protection (pitch low) and is significantly lighter than my silpoly (I agree with OneClick...silpoly retains H2O and can be heavy after many days of wet).

I'm also rethinking my rain gear...ordered an umbrella from GG.

Sometimes we just have to embrace the suck. The last night on-trail I camped at Cheese Cake Factory, a gap which proved to be very windy, compounded with rain, followed by lightning, thunder, more wind and more rain into my final day on-trail, going over Tray Mtn. Buckets of suck, but I embraced it.

Oh...if you're having trouble with wet feet...try Badger Foot Balm at night, followed by diaper rash cream (with zinc oxide) in the morning. It's not a magic cure all to keep feet dry. However, that process works for me with recovery at night and somewhat helps keep feet dry during day - reapply at lunch/break if you can.

Hope some of this is useful. It's nice to focus for a while on backpacking, gear and hiking....rather than virus stuff.